Network Modernization - FCW

Network Modernization

INSIDE

Agencies Strive to Modernize Networks s2

Unified Communications Makes Headway via Video and the ‘Post-PC’ Era s4

Managing Mobility on Agency Networks s7

Network Modernization Tips and Advice s9

Fading Technologies Sway Future Investments s10

Online report sponsored by

s2 Government Computer News Custom Report

Mobile & Wireless

Maintaining a Mix of Wired and Wireless Networks

www.GCN.com/NetworkModernizationSnapshot: Network Modernization

Agencies Strive to Modernize Networks

Budgetary constraints, along with the administration’s advocacy of data center consolidation, cloud computing, telework and

mobile computing are accelerating the pace of network modernization government-wide.

Agencies and departments are working to invest in cloud-based services, application delivery alternatives, mobile computing technologies and WAN optimization to aid ongoing efforts to streamline and optimize network operations.

To meet the requirements of mandates such as the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), agencies and departments are working reducing the number of federal data centers and lowering ongoing IT costs, while increasing both security and energy efficiency. These federal IT consolidation projects are expected to help civilian, military and intelligence organizations shrink the number of data centers, which had quadrupled between 1998 and 2010. The White House now estimates 962

federal data centers will close by the end of 2015.To meet FDCCI goals, however, agencies must overcome challenges related to efficiently consolidating data center resources without negatively impacting application performance for workers. Industry observers maintain data center consolidation can wreak havoc on application performance and response times across wide area networks (WANs). As regional data centers and small data centers in field offices close, users must connect to applications located farther away. This exposes users to performance issues caused by distance and latency. And this is not only frustrating, but can also threaten consolidation efforts.

Enter WAN OptimizationWAN optimization boosts data traffic across geographic distances. While the primary tools have been around for a decade, agencies are increasingly turning to WAN optimization to speed the delivery of applications from a centralized data center to branch offices, or back up data to an off-site facility. “The dramatic increase in video traffic, a growing reliance on cloud services, and the

Resiliency, Reliability and Security Key to Highly Available Networks

Info-Tech Research submits that access layer networks are ready for wireless, but requirements for wired cabling will live on in data centers, and specialized, high-security situations. When it comes to networks, agencies must consider the following:• The complexity of cables in the data center remains costly –

In terms of maintenance, operations and inefficiency (think cooling).

•Some wireless obstacles have yet to be resolved – Potential wireless data center solutions, such as 60GHz, suffer from low reliability, range limitations and energy efficiency challenges. Solutions are emerging, though not widely available yet.

•10G Ethernet provides a strong infrastructure technology – for converged data center networks. Even with cables, 10G Ethernet is the one technology that can serve most data center network requirements for the foreseeable future.

• Organizations with high security requirements – Must deal with the perception that wireless introduces security risks. Banks, government agencies, and hospitals will face resistance. Though wireless networks are quite secure (even the FBI has gone wireless, Info-Tech reports) the perception that ‘wireless = unsecured’ may delay the closing of wired connections.

• High interference environments – Still tend to run into difficulty if there is electromagnetic noise blocking wireless signals. Complex physical environments made of steel and concrete can also make the transition to wireless networks cost-prohibitive.

• High bandwidth requirements – May make wireless less efficient. Environments in which multi-gigabyte files are constantly transferred from location to location may require wired connectivity.

Government Computer News Custom Report s3

Mobile & Wirelesswww.GCN.com/NetworkModernization Snapshot: Network Modernization

‘consumerization’ of IT are all considered drivers as well,” said Lauren Jones, senior principal analyst for Deltek’s Federal Market Analysis program, Herndon, Va.

By leveraging WAN optimization techniques such as de-duplication, data compression, traffic prioritization and protocol optimization, agencies can avoid degrading network performance, and migrate more applications to centralized data centers without impacting performance for users, she explained.

The advent of mobility, converging communications technologies and cloud computing, are all driving requirements for higher levels of availability, convenience and efficiency from government networks. Info-Tech Research Group maintains wireless access networks, especially those leveraging 4G cellular technologies, should top agency lists for mobile/remote access. “It’s important for agencies to be prepared to rely more on wireless networks,” according to James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada.

While cabled networks, especially for backbone data

centers, are likely to remain in place for years to come, McCloskey said wireless technologies have matured for mobile access networks. One reason: “wireless devices connecting to networks will increase from 31 percent to 76 percent in the next three years,” he said.

As government network backbones are upgraded and agencies prepare more applications for migration to cloud-based services, Info-Tech advises organizations to focus on uptime and coverage.

Also, as with the advent of mobility, cloud services also require agencies to pay strict attention to security. Undoubtedly, information transmitted via a cloud service must be protected. Industry observers, such as Deltek’s Jones maintain the government’s focus on enhancing mobility by expanding the use of wireless technologies and cloud services is a good idea. And Info-Tech Research’s McCloskey agreed. “Access to government networks, from anywhere, with any device, leads to increased productivity when cloud access is required for functionality,” he said. s

The ramp up to unified communications (UC) has taken a decade and is still only starting to emerge in many public sector organizations.

Evidence indicates, however, that government organizations are starting to realize the challenges that have slowed UC’s adoption are largely ‘people’ and ‘process’-based, rather than technological in nature.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has led the way, by investing in Voice over IP (VoIP) and building Defense Connect Online to enable access to DoD resources online. Other government agencies and departments such as the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the U.S. Holocaust Museum, among others, have invested in UC to streamline collaboration, improve constituent services and reduce costs.

Meanwhile, a recent Gartner study shows by 2016 at least 50% of email users will drop traditional PCs in favor of tablets or other mobile devices.

And, according to industry estimates, 80 percent of U.S. adults are online and nearly 60 percent engage in social networking, which further underscores the shift away from traditional, to increasingly digital, collaborative communications methods.

Unified communications (UC) is considered excellent for government organizations looking to tie voice, video and other communications services together to make it easier for employees to communicate with each other as well as contractors, partners, constituents and other stakeholders.

Driven largely by potential savings in travel costs, along with the capability to deliver greater flexibility for workers, UC is being implemented in federal, state and local government environments also due to the advent

of video over networks and the post-PC mobile device era. “Our customers are working hard to ‘manage change’ and develop strategies for the incremental adoption of UC to avoid security breaches as well as any potential network capacity problems,” said Russell Plain, UC Solutions Architect for CDW Government LLC (CDW-G), in Vernon Hills, Ill.

Security is of paramount importance, and must be ‘baked in from the back end server to the end-user devices used, whether handheld or fixed,” Plain added. This is why CDW-G advises government organizations to invest in client computing options with zero disk and zero memory. That way, any changes, in classification levels or users, can be administered without problems. All devices with onboard memory, disk storage are at a higher risk of being compromised, he added.

Benefits of UCFor government audiences, UC, combined with mobility solutions can dramatically improve productivity for field workers such as social workers, census takers, the police and border patrols. According to Lauren Jones, senior principal analyst for Deltek’s Federal Market Analysis program, Herndon, Va., “These offsite workers

Unified Communications Makes Headway via the Advent of Video and the ‘Post-PC’ Era



Key UC DriversThe advent of UC is driven by agency requirements to:• Improve employee collaboration;• Improve employee efficiency;• Retire legacy PBXes and upgrade technologies to streamline

operational efficiency;• Enable greater mobility for workers;• Improve constituent communications;• Reduce expenses, both CapEx and OpEx;• Reduce travel expenses; and• Improve communications with partners and other stakeholders.

gain not simply a single app, but the ability to check email, respond to the home office, and even citizen requests. UC makes workers more productive, and helps them stay more connected to the organization’s office infrastructure.”

In the currently tight budgetary climate, UC is compelling because it allows for videoconferencing and all forms of collaboration, tying workers, contractors and other partners together for meetings and telework, Jones continued. Via UC collaboration tools, she explained, agencies can keep tabs on the status of employees via ‘presence’ apps that track an employee’s availability status throughout each day.

Ongoing concerns about security, cultural resistance and the need to properly train workers to use UC tools such as messaging and collaboration, so they learn to do things in a new way, requires additional investment. This may also take extra effort to overcome resistance. Organizations must take into account a commitment to training, along with overcoming network security hurdles and IT support issues that can drive up the cost of deployment and maintenance, said Deltek’s Jones.

CDW-G’s experts maintain that security and network reliability are not UC problems, agencies must work to overcome. “Those problems tend to arrive due to

difficulties inherent in current TDM networks,” said CDW-G’s Plain.

Despite any challenges, the potential for cost savings has made UC more attractive, government-wide “Typically, for the price of annual maintenance, agencies can implement a VoIP system that will continue to save agencies money each year after deployment,” said Plain.

Aside from cost savings, government organizations must realize the dramatic potential UC has to “improve productivity, mobility and leverage the power of social media – an ongoing challenge for many agencies to date,” said Deltek’s Jones.

Looking ahead, industry observers maintain UC will likely take hold in agencies that want to leverage social media, and in environments that will better serve the needs of ‘millennial generation’ employees and constituents. No matter what the goals, however, agencies must assess their risks, primarily including the impact on productivity, security and network performance, and develop plans to deal with each of these crucial elements, along the way, Jones added.

And CDW-G’s Plain insists agency mangers must take a cue from teenagers. Agency leaders must understand Skype and Facebook. While neither is secure enough for


www.GCN.com/NetworkModernization Snapshot: Network Modernization

Understanding UC as a Service

Cloud-based unified communications (UC) solutions are struc-tured to make deployment easier, shift upfront capital expenses to operational expenses and provide a streamlined path for agencies to migrate to new applications and features, as they are rolled out. Unlike other cloud services, most cloud-based UC services won’t entirely eliminate on-premise equipment, such as desk phones, videoconferencing equipment, routers and gateways for analog phones and fax machines. UC cloud provid-ers typically host the telephony and application servers in a UC package, including presence, chat, messaging and other fea-tures. Also, most cloud services assume customers have already adopted a VoIP infrastructure, although some organizations may choose to work with a cloud provider to implement VoIP as well as UC.

Typical cloud-based UC services include IP-based voice and video, presence and instant messaging, and unified messaging, in which voicemail is saved to a user’s email inbox and users

can call or send an instant message to a coworker by clicking on an email address. Other UC options may include web-based conferencing and contact center applications. Cloud-based UC offerings are growing rapidly, and include:• Hosted UC solutions – which deliver cost predictability and

reduce reliance on internal support staff, but may also limit flexibility based on service provider technology decisions.

• Hybrid solutions – in which on-premise equipment and cloud-based services coexist, can extend basic UC implemen-tations and enable small or remote offices to benefit from UC.

No matter what type of cloud-based UC service is chosen it’s important to ensure wide area networks can handle the increased traffic (including voice, data and video). “When high availability is important, network redundancy and performance management costs must not be overlooked,” said James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada.



government use, similar video and social media tools are available that can help government audiences visualize the value of greater collaboration through UC, said Plain.

Industry observers advise government audiences to monitor UC traffic to avoid performance issues and respond quickly to unexpected and/or inappropriate

usage patterns on networks. Ultimately, according to James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada, UC technology isn’t one-size-fits-all. “Understanding the agency’s individual operational/mission goals and developing a strategy for UC are key to selecting the right technological solutions, and making the most of any UC investment,” said McCloskey. s



Managing Mobility on Agency Networks

In one corner, government executives, who want more flexible, mobile computing options that allow access to data and applications needed to perform

their jobs and deliver government services.

In the other corner, government IT administrators, who are focused on meeting mission objectives, while complying with multiple requirements, including mandates for improved security, protection of personally-identifiable information (PII), expanded teleworking, data center consolidation and Cloud-First, among other initiatives.

Consumerism is driving users to bring personal mobile devices to work, which raises requirements for better security protections, along with upgrades to agency networks to adapt and securely embrace mobility. “The pressure is on for both users and IT administrators to come to some sort of agreement,” said James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada.

The Federal Mobility Strategy launched early in 2012 was structured to help accelerate the government’s adoption of mobile technologies and services by:• Improving delivery of government information,

products and services; • Engaging citizens more fully and meaningfully with

government; • Reducing the cost of government operations through

technology-enabled efficiencies; and • Increasing productivity by freeing government

employees and contractors from outdated work practices.

Greater acceptance of mobile technologies is needed. Current industry estimates indicate the number of the smartphone users will reach one billion by 2016.

While agencies await further guidance for how to securely implement greater mobility for workers, some

innovative use cases have emerged. The Veterans Administration (VA), in an effort to stay current with private sector healthcare settings has provided tablets for VA physicians to use in tracking patient encounters. Meanwhile, the Air Force purchased a large number of iPads for training, maintenance and operations staff to use on flight decks. And the U.S. Census mobilized more than 140,000 devices in its latest census effort. “At this early stage, the primary government trend has been to focus primarily on field workers, not a government organization’s entire workforce,” said Lauren Jones, senior principal analyst for Deltek’s Federal Market Analysis program.

By 2013, Info-Tech Research Group estimates nearly every user in public and private sector organizations will be bringing a personal mobile device into the workplace. Ignoring the use of mobile devices can add up to a costly mistake, as up to 24 percent of an agency’s operational budget is at risk in lost time and increased risk by ignoring the influx of mobile devices on government networks, according to Info-Tech’s research.

Instead, government organizations should consider infrastructural changes to cover the cost of mobile device management and enable greater operational flexibility and efficiency, McCloskey said. Most government organizations already restrict the use of mobile devices. A variety of security technologies can be used to address different bring-your-own device (BYOD)-related security challenges.

Some primary tools to consider include:• Mobile device management (MDM) – for greater

control over smartphones and tablets, reducing risk and support costs.

• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPN – provides browser-based secure access to organizational resources, and may offer an application virtualization portal, along with improved enforcement of mobile security policies.

• Network access control (NAC) – generates tight

Resiliency, Reliability and Security Key to Highly Available Networks



control over which users can use personal mobile devices to access specific systems, beyond simply providing separate guest wireless access.

• Data leak prevention (DLP) – allows IT control over the movement of sensitive data from critical systems.

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) – increases the visibility of potential security disruptions with centralized logging for audit and incident management.

CDW-G security experts recommend agencies strive to minimize the ‘sensitive-data’ footprint on all mobile devices. High-risk users and highly-regulated environments benefit from the adoption of virtualization (of both applications and/or desktops) to reduce risks associated with data leakage.

By dealing with mobility issues, organizations can turn the headache of securing mobile devices, into a clear case for network transformation, according to Info-Tech’s McCloskey. “Understanding and articulating the mission-focused value of mobile devices can help shape agency budget requests for capital expenses, such as security and virtualization, and aid agencies in realizing important opportunities to maximize IT value while transforming network infrastructures,” said McCloskey.The success of mobile computing security requires

a networking environment that optimizes user connectivity. Agencies must also develop a unified strategy for embracing mobility. The highest level of success can only be achieved when connectivity is combined with unified communications (UC) collaboration solutions, and implemented with client/desktop or application virtualization solutions that allow for consistent, device-independent access to the applications users need to complete their daily tasks, said Deltek’s Jones.

In an era of greater transparency and accountability -- along with tight budgets – widespread use of mobility solutions makes good sense. “Increased federal reporting requirements will encourage agencies to think more strategically, keep track of devices for mobile expense management, and for required reporting on energy use/compliance,” Jones said.

Government organizations should look for new guidance on mobile device security from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this summer, with the fourth revision of NIST’s Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations, (Special Publication 800-53). NIST currently recommends cryptography validated to meet Federal Information Processing Standards FIPS 140-2, to protect the confidentiality, availability or integrity of information on mobile devices” s

Evaluating the Impact of Mobility on Government Nets

In sizing up the impact of mobility on gov-ernment networks, agencies should exam-ine the following elements:• Stability – Identify the key infrastructure

elements that will be critical to balanc-ing organizational policies against user requirements. Invest time and budget in maximizing these specific elements.

• Scalability – Identify the key applica-tions that will drive the organization’s operational goals. Ensure the enabling infrastructure solutions can be scaled to meet future demand from those key applications.

• Budget – Based on risk management and current IT priorities, agencies must determine if the costs associated with ensuring stability and scalability outweigh the potential cost savings to be gained.

Source: Info-Tech Research Group



As government organizations upgrade their networks to consolidate data centers and enhance mobility to achieve compliance with mandates such as the

Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative and OMB’s 25- point plan, there are a number of tips they should keep in mind.

According to CDW-G’s UC experts, government organizations that have successfully implemented UC are also often doing at least one of the following:• Establishing a new call center or expanding an old one;• Integrating/consolidating two or more existing networks; • Expanding or deploying a telework program for a

significant portion of the organization’s workforce;• Replacing obsolete or inadequate existing networks; • Implementing a continuity of operations plan and

supporting capabilities;• Integrating branches of distributed operations (such as

field offices). CDW-G UC experts recommend IT managers discuss with agency management how to couple telework and consolidation improvements with improvements in communications that can further enhance the organization’s effectiveness and cost efficiency.

Agencies must also develop a plan for the future that includes wireless networks, according to James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada.

Implementing and operating a wireless network is much easier than just five years ago. As agencies learn to embrace cloud computing, for example, the need for constant internet access is fast-becoming a requirement, leading Info-Tech Research Group to recommend agencies strive to learn where to “cut the cords, and rely more on wireless technologies,” McCloskey maintained.

When it comes to network security, government organizations considering wireless technologies may select added security protections, including: • Multi-factor authentication using one-time password fobs

or text messaging.

• Wireless Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (WIPS) to identify, alert and automatically prevent attempts to hack the wireless network.

• Endpoint inspection and remediation, a component of Network Access Control (NAC), identifies insecure devices to avoid missing or outdated anti-malware and missing Windows patches. Network access isn’t allowed until patches are remediated.

• Network segmentation and ‘stateful’ firewalls allow administrators to direct/restrict traffic from certain users or devices. Such tools can even direct guest users to an Internet connection with no access to the internal network. s

Source: Info-Tech Research Group

Network Modernization Tips and Advice

CDW-G’s technical experts also offer additional advice to secure wireless

access, including: • Beware of ‘spoofing’ assaults. Network administrators

must remain wary of spoofing, which hackers hijack the communications of users who believe they’re sending sensitive information on a secure pipeline.

• Encryption and authentication features, a required standard on switches and access points, must protect wireless transmissions as well.

• Intrusion prevention systems for wireless environments can assist network administrators to quickly identify unauthorized devices trying to break through security defenses.

• Wireless-savvy IPS devices can beat back ‘denial-of-service’ attacks designed to crash networks. ‘Geofencing,’ a virtual perimeter around a geographic site, and other related techniques can be used to help IT managers grant access only to devices running at known and trusted physical locations.

• A virtual LAN (VLAN) is another wireless security tool which can help regulate traffic using access control lists (ACLs) to guard against vulnerabilities that arise when guest users must find a way to connect to the Internet over a wireless link. IT managers may instead choose to dedicate a wireless LAN controller to divert guest user traffic to a secure location outside the organization’s firewall.

Source: CDW-G



When it comes to crystal ball gazing, knowing what NOT to buy in large quantities, can be almost as important as what to choose,

instead. The following list of technologies to avoid isn’t meant to scare buyers current buyers away from purchasing plans. For example, in the short term, hardware appliances are considered highly useful tools for a range of endpoint and network security protections. It’s just that the widespread use of virtualization and the ability to deliver security features and functions as a service will replace hardware appliances in the not too distant future, according to James McCloskey, a Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, London Ontario, Canada.

The list below is important, because government organizations must strive to think strategically about current requirements. Agencies must take into account whether they want to increase capabilities, or simply lower costs. “UC, for example is a proven cost saver over traditional TDM networks,” said Russell Plain, UC Solutions aArchitect for CDW Government LLC (CDW-G) in Vernon Hills, Ill.

If agencies analyze TCO and ROI and examine contract vehicles that will deliver greater productivity, Plain continued, “most will find that UC will allow agencies to work more efficiently and cost-effectively do more with less,” he added.

According to Info-Tech’s research, the following technologies and standards are “so cold they’re on their way out, in the next decade,” including:

• WiMax – a potential 4G wireless technology, WiMax is being replaced by LTE. Only one major network (Sprint) currently uses WiMax, but is now also moving to LTE. WiMax phones will stop production by 2013, then WiMax networks will start to fade.

• Hardware appliances – such as hardware firewalls and hardware WAN optimization will be replaced by virtual appliances running on existing utility infrastructure by 2013. This is part of the growing trends toward virtualization and managed services. The features and functions of hardware appliances will be provided by virtual machines, and increasingly industry suppliers are planning to deliver these virtual features as managed services, rather than hardware or software solutions, McCloskey said.

• Non-IP telephony – TDM and PBX technology will be nearly extinct by 2015. It’s important for government organizations to hang up on traditional telephony, ASAP, McCloskey explained. The future is all IP, all of the time.

• Feature phones – are also fading fast. By 2016, nearly all phones sold worldwide will be smart phones. Workers will always have a computer on hand, and to be productive will need constant network connectivity.

• PCs – (as currently recognized) will also be dead by 2020. Phones, tablets, and yet-to-be-revealed ‘PC-like’ form factors will make the clunky desktop PC a dinosaur. By 2020, even laptops will be rare, reserved for very specific use cases. In the future, the idea of having to work in a specific place at tied-down devices will seem quaint.

• All cables – will eventually curl up and die. While this is hard to imagine in most government IT environments today, by 2021, improving wireless standards will make physical connections rare, even in most data centers. Info-Tech asserts that if wireless power limitations can be cracked, an entirely cable-free organization will be within view by then. s

Source: Info-Tech Research

Fading Technologies Sway Future Investments

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